Windows Central Insider
Last year, it was reported that Samsung was planning to drop support for OneDrive backups in the Samsung Gallery app on Galaxy phones, as new strings were spotted stating that users would need to begin backing up photos to Samsung's own cloud service soon.
Now, Microsoft itself has confirmed that this is indeed happening later this year. Starting September 30, Samsung will cease to support OneDrive in the Samsung Gallery app on Galaxy phones, meaning from that date onwards, OneDrive will no longer be the default cloud provider for photo backups on Galaxy devices.
"After September 30, 2026, Samsung Gallery will no longer sync photos to OneDrive. All photos stored in OneDrive will disappear from your Samsung Gallery app. If you previously used Samsung Gallery to OneDrive sync feature, you will need to update your camera roll settings to continue backing up new photos and videos and to access any photos you have already backed up via the OneDrive app."
OneDrive has been integrated with Samsung phones since 2019, when Microsoft and Samsung first announced a special partnership that would see the Redmond giant provide cloud services and pre-install a number of its apps on Galaxy phones, along with deeper integration with Windows Phone Link.
Now, it seems the OneDrive aspect of that deal is coming to an end. Samsung has chosen to begin hosting its own cloud services for photo backups, and Samsung users will be encouraged to use Samsung's own service instead of OneDrive starting later this year.
After September 30, photos that were previously backed up to OneDrive via the Gallery app will no longer be viewable. Microsoft says that the photos will not be deleted, and will still be available to view via the OneDrive app or website. You'll just no longer be able to see them directly in the Samsung Gallery app.
The good news is that if you prefer using OneDrive for photo backups, you can continue doing so, just not via the built in Gallery app. Instead, you'll have to setup cloud backups in the OneDrive app itself, which will run in the background and backup your photos every day. This is how it works on all Android phones with the OneDrive app installed.
The experience is the same, but it just means you'll have to manually enable it when you set up your device going forward, as it will no longer be natively supported by the in-box photos app on Galaxy devices.
Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.
